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Friday, May 28, 2010

It struck me as odd because the damn magazine is called American Baby, yet, this photo is not an accurate representation of ALL American babies. They come in different colors/ethnicities and each group should have been properly represented. However, you see 80% of the children look/are Caucasian. This is my last straw with this publication though and I will explain why.

American Baby and Parenting magazine have these panels you can join to take surveys that allow you to test products for your baby, get samples, enter sweepstakes, and take surveys that give the publisher an idea of what the readers like. I used to fill out the surveys ALL the time but felt something odd was going on because I was NEVER contacted to participate in anything past the surveys. I noticed that each survey requires you to list your ethnicity. I had been stating that I was African American so I decided to mark that I was White and see if someone would contact me.

I received a call about a survey I had taken and when the lady was going over my answers she asked what my ethnicity was. I wanted to see if she would still move forward with the questions if I stated my real ethnicity. When I told her that I was African American she said, “Well it says here that you’re White”. I felt that should not make a difference; I am still a mother with a child that fully qualified for what the survey was featuring. She then stated how awkward this was and that they would not be needing me at this time.

I hung up the phone in a state of confusion because I had just gotten played for being Black.

So when I saw this ad, I immediately felt like something was missing.

I wanted to share this with anyone who has children because these magazines should be extremely diverse when gathering information for products and from their readers. I was good enough to move forward with the survey when I was White but the minute I became Black, I was not needed anymore. It sends a message…and not a good one.

I won’t be renewing any of my subscriptions to American Baby or Parenting (owned by the same people) because of this and I will be writing a letter to their Editor in Chief. It is 2010 and there really is not any room for this kind of behavior if we want to peacefully coexist…

HD: Whiteness isn't the standard of beauty for me LOL I am a firm believer in beauty being in the eye of the beholder but this is about babies...they are so innocent but whoever was in charge of this spread is/was slipping

jeanette: yeah, I want to judo kick folks teeth out when they say we live in a post racial society. BECAUSE OBAMA IS THE PRESIDENT THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE HAVE OVERCOME! GTFOH!

phallatio: very true

RAVEN: I am going to post their response if they write back so we shall see!

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About Me

I'm a wordy, sarcastic, reasonable kind of woman. Big on thinking and all the other great attributes that manifest themselves as a result of being a brain (read: nerd @ heart). Considered a weirdo by some but last I checked most memorable people are...weirdos.